This invention relates generally to pickup trucks, commercial trucks, and other high clearance vehicles and more specifically to a removable bumper step for quick attachment to such vehicles to permit easy access to the engine compartments thereof. Operators of pickups and larger trucks, as well as mechanics, have, in the past, experienced difficulty accessing the engine compartments of such vehicles because of their height off the ground. That access is necessary to perform such routine maintenance as checking lubrication levels on dip sticks as well as maintenance that requires access for extended periods of time, often to the farthest reaches of the engine compartment. In the past, persons requiring access to the engine compartments of such vehicles have generally had to stretch over the fender of such a vehicle, stand on the front bumper, or employ objects such as boxes, ladders, saw horses, milk crates and the like. These methods of access are all disadvantageous for one reason or another. For example, it has been found difficult, if not imposssible to gain access to the rear areas of the engine compartment of such a vehicle by reaching over the fender. Scratching of the fender paint in such instances is almost assured, and injury is very likely to occur as the result of slippage on the typical chrome bumper. Objects such as ladders, milk crates, etc. employed to gain a height advantage also present a serious safety problem for the user.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a portable bumper step that may be quickly and easily connected to and removed from any desired position along the front bumper of a truck to permit safe and ready access to all areas of the engine compartment. This object, as well as other incidental objects, is accomplished in accordance with the illustrated preferred embodiments of the present invention by employing a piece of steel plate that has been formed to provide a lip portion, adapted to hook over the truck bumper, and a horizontal step portion upon which the user can safely and comfortably stand for extended periods of time. The bumper step is preferably coated with a rubberized substance to increase its safety characteristics. Once the user has completed the particular maintenance task at hand requiring use of the bumper step, it may be quickly removed from the bumper and stored in the passenger compartment of the vehicle for future use.